Hope Springs

What have we here? A romantic comedy with precious little romance and even less comedy, Hope Springs is one of those demonically misguided movies, beyond redemption. Perhaps more tellingly, when Minnie Driver is far and away the best thing about a film, it should be obvious that the article in question is not going to be jostling for cinematic greatness. Firth plays Colin Ware, an English artist who learns that his fiancee Vera (Driver) is to get married to another bloke. Heartbroken, he heads off to the American town of Hope Springs - primarily because of the optimistic nature of the name - and tells anyone who'll listen of his romantic woes, while making a half hearted attempt to put together an exhibition. The resolutely quirky Mandy (Graham) finds herself falling for Colin in double quick time, but it isn't long before Vera shows up.

With a premise so threadbare it's a wonder it didn't catch pneumonia, Hope Springs is an aimless, vapid affair which fails to negotiate a path between bawdy mainstream humour and the kind propagated by a rash of British films in recent years. Herman never imposes a definitive tone on proceedings and with only one decent laugh in the entire film, Hope Springs is remarkably inadequate. Even by Heather Graham's standards.